Bulb supporting device

Abstract: A bulb supporting device of a vehicle lamp assembly consists of a socket (12), a resilient gasket (22) having a first surface abutting an annular surface (20) within the socket, and a bulb holder (14) having an annular flange (18) with a surface abutting a second surface of the gasket (22). The gasket (22) has two annular ribs (24,26) on one of its surfaces with openings (30,32) at circumferentially spaced locations to provide a labyrinth-type flow path for air to enter and exit the interior of the lamp assembly.

Description: This invention relates to a bulb supporting device comprising a socket in a vehicle lamp assembly, a resilient gasket having a first surface abutting an annular surface within the socket, and a bulb holder having an annular flange with a surface abutting a second surface of the gasket. A retainer arrangement of this type is disclosed in US-A-2219770. It is also known from US-A-5095410 to provide a retainer arrangement for maintaining a bulb assembly within a socket in a vehicle lamp and arranged to established a labyrinth-type flow path for air to enter and exit the interior of the lamp assembly, the bulb assembly having an annular flange with a surface arranged to confront a complimentary surface on the lamp assembly to bound said labyrinth-type flow path. According to the invention, in a bulb supporting device of the type described above, the gasket has formations bounding a labyrinth-type flow path for air to enter and exit the interior of the lamp assembly. An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional view of a retainer arrangement in accordance with the invention, having a gasket between the lamp assembly and the bulb assembly; and Figure 2 is a side view of the gasket of the retainer arrangement shown in Figure 1. A vehicle lamp assembly has a body 10 with a cylindrical socket 12 for receiving a bulb holder 14. The bulb holder 14 supports a bulb 16 and has an annular flange 18 which confronts a complimentary inwardly-directed flange 20 formed within the socket 12. A synthetic rubber gasket 22 is located between the flanges 18 and 20. As can best be seen from Figure 2, the gasket 22 has three concentric annular ribs 24, 26 and 28 on the surface confronting the flange 20. The outer rib 24 is cut away at the bottom of the gasket 22 to form an air inlet 30. Similarly, the central and inner ribs 26 and 28 are cut away at the top of the gasket 22 to form an air outlet 32. In use, air can flow into the bottom of the socket 12, as indicated by arrow A in Figure 1, then up through the inlet 30, round the groove between the outer rib 24 and central 26 and then through the outlet 32 into the interior of the body 10 as indicated by the arrow B. The groove between the central rib 26 and inner rib 28 has no communication with the inlet 30 and therefore does not form part of the labyrinth flow path. As can be seen in Figure 1, the gasket 22 has three annular ribs 34, 36 and 38 formed on its opposite face so as to abut the flange 18 on the bulb holder. In the embodiment illustrated, these three ribs do not have any portion cut away and do not form part of the air flow path. However they may be constructed to form a second, parallel, air flow path if it is desired to increase the air flow rate.

Claims: A bulb supporting device comprising a socket (12) in a vehicle lamp assembly, a resilient gasket (22) having a first surface abutting an annular surface within the socket (12), and a bulb holder (14) having an annular flange (18) with a surface abutting a second surface of the gasket (22), characterised in that the gasket (22) has formations (24, 26) bounding a labyrinth-type flow path for air to enter and exit the interior of the lamp assembly. A bulb supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the formations bounding the labyrinth-type flow path comprises a plurality of annular ribs (24, 26) on one of said surfaces of the gasket (22). A bulb supporting device according to claim 2, wherein the ribs (24, 26) have openings (30, 32) at circumferentially spaced locations to provide radially extending parts of said flow path.

Inventors: BROMHALL ADRIAN VINCENT, BROMHALL, ADRIAN VINCENT
Applicants: BRITAX VEGA LTD, BRITAX VEGA LIMITED
Application year: 1994
Main classification: F21M7
IPC codes: F21V19, F21V31